“I would argue that it inappropriate and deeply offensive for Christians to attempt to convert Jews or to misuse the Hebrew Scriptures and claim them as Christian writings.

– Rev. Chuck Currie

That’s odd, because Jesus tried to convert Jews, as did all the early Christians, including Paul. Should we listen to Chuck or to the early church and the Bible?

Does the apostate UCC and UMC, both served by Chuck, not include the Old Testament in their Bible? That’s what Chuck appears to be saying, but it is news to me. And I’ve seen Chuck (mis)quote the OT many times. I’m not sure why he is abandoning it now.

Paul was even willing to sacrifice his own salvation if it would save all the Jews:

Romans 9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ–I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit– 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

Romans 10: 1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Chuck and other false teachers go wrong when they let fallacious illustrations like this trump the Bible:

Could you honestly tell a Jewish child being forced into the fires of a concentration camp that they are doomed to the fires of hell because they don’t accept Jesus as their savior?

They stack the deck by using the vague term child. If we take that out so that we don’t muddy the waters with age-of-accountability questions, the answer is simple: Yes, I could honestly tell a Jew that they are doomed to Hell if they don’t repent and believe. What was so hard about that? That is what the Bible teaches over and over, such as John 8:24 (“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”). I realize that Chuck and the other false teachers sit in judgment of God and don’t like that truth, but it is still the truth. Just because you die a tragic and unjust death doesn’t mean you weren’t a sinner in need of a Savior. Only a non-believer could think that (allegedly) sparing someone a little angst about Hell right before they go there for eternity is some kind of good deed.

It is only in the perverse, God-hating world of theological Liberals that it is unkind to tell people how to avoid an eternity in Hell.

It is only the truly hateful, self-loving false teachers who would consciously deny the truth to people who desperately need it — Jews included.

Good news, for now: Great grandmother fires at mugger with legally-owned, legally-carried handgun. But the politicians protected by people with guns all day, every day want to take away the rights of people to defend themselves. If you think they just want to take away “assault” weapons (which is so broadly defined that it could include anything), then you are hopelessly naïve. Once again, the 2nd Amendment is not about hunting.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, though, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ numbers do spell out the continuing dilemma that, in whole numbers, there are more government workers unionized (7.3 million) than those in the private sector (7 million). Yet, it is the private sector that pays the public sector’s salaries.

In any case, as it has been almost every year since 1983, this week in January was another bad week for union bosses.

The same people that will mock the Boy Scouts for not taking gays will also mock them when boys are abused. It is so unfathomable how far we’ve sunk that people can’t see the obvious parallel: Should the Girl Scouts allow men to camp with girls? Shame on the BSA Board for even considering this.

Many basic doctrines have a built-in absurdity to them that offends the natural mind.

Don’t believe me? Just have someone tell the elementary tenets of the Christmas story back to you:

“So the God of the universe gets a young virgin girl pregnant, she gives birth to His infant divine Son in a stable in the middle of nowhere, angels rejoice and hardly anyone else in the world notices?”

and then

“thirty years later this same God Man all of a sudden starts walking on water, multiplying food, and healing all diseases while claiming authority over everything in the world. Despite all this most people reject Him and He goes to a Roman cross to die a brutal death that shakes the earth. Then he raises Himself up from the dead through a tomb, walks and talks with people for a few days, and finally floats back up to heaven to be with the God that sent Him down here. Oh yeah, and this dude’s gonna come back with fire and stuff a second time?….

And I’m supposed to believe all that and follow Him right?”

To which we say: “Amen!”

. . . In the fourth century the Roman Emperor, Julian, equated Christianity with atheism and lamented over its influence:

“Atheism [I.e. the Christian faith!] has been specially advanced
through the loving service rendered to strangers, and through their care for the burial of the dead. It is a scandal that there is not a single Jew who is a beggar, and that the godless Galileans care not only for their own poor but for ours as well; while those who belong to us look in vain for the help that we should render them.”

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I was just thinking the other day about how presumptuous it is to schedule a revival, then I saw this.

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On Thursday one of my daughters and I were lamenting the seeker-sensitive church movement. As an example I noted how churches seem to find excuses to do dances during “worship” services to songs like Thriller.

He was involved in Chicago’s “Days of Rage” riot in 1969 and went underground as a fugitive from justice after an accidental Greenwich Village townhouse explosion in 1970 killed three Weather Underground members who were preparing a bomb that prematurely detonated.

Ayers admitted in a 2001 book that he participated in bombings of the New York City Police Department headquarters, the U.S. Capitol Building and the Pentagon in the early 1970s.

The avowed communist revolutionary Ayers is best known for grooming Barack Hussein Obama for office, as part of the same strategy of destroying America from within its own institutions that led him to abandon bombs for a career in education.

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Republicans should ramp up efforts to combat voter fraud. Obama might have won without the rampant fraud in many areas (sure, Obama got 100.00000% of the vote in countless precincts!), but their success in cheating will only embolden them now. Do not be afraid of RINOs.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the Republican Party should abandon its efforts to curb voter participation through voter ID laws…

“The Republican Party should be a party that says, ‘We want everybody to vote,’ and make it easier to vote and give them a reason to vote for the party, not to find ways to keep them from voting at all.”

Lest anyone take this phony rhetoric at face value, I’ll translate: “Republicans had better not challenge us on systemic voter fraud, or out comes the race card yet again.”

Worldly thinking has led countless churches to avoid many truths of scripture lest they offend non-believing visitors. And when the churches grow to serve the larger numbers they get caught in a trap of their own making. If they shift to focus on the entire Bible, they will lose members. Then they won’t be able to keep the doors open. That forces them to rationalize continued diluted or false messages.

The Bible teaches that we should not use trickery to share the Gospel.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-6 You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure. We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition. For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else.

Sadly, many churches water down the Gospel to avoid offending people. They just want to get them in the door and plan to get around to the whole truth later.

Of course, we don’t want to add to the offense of the Gospel, but we shouldn’t distort it to avoid the legitimate offense.

But as bad as the bait & switch strategy is, the bigger problem is that the churches using this strategy forgot to make the switch. And they used the bait for so long that they now think that is all they need to do. They never get around to sharing the whole Gospel. If your message never offends (in the appropriate Biblical sense) then you are preaching the wrong message (Hello, is Joel there?).

We shouldn’t dilute the message just to grow the numbers. Hey, if youth groups offered free beer & p*rnography that would probably increase attendance, but are those the numbers that count?

And consider the mainline churches that continue to see declining figures. The more “inclusive” they are the smaller they get. They offend the world less, I suppose, but they have nothing left to offer the world, either.

I think it exhibits a lack of faith when we don’t trust God enough to preach his word in an undiluted fashion. Does He really need us to edit it for him?

Consider this from a friend’s Facebook page:

‎The greatest revival in history took place among the most wicked people in history- the Ninevites. The message they heard was destruction was coming in forty days. Jonah impacted the whole city with this message and they responded by repenting. He had mega growth (in less than 40 days) without using mega growth methods. Here is a biblical model that worked with no problems -100% response. Jonah didn’t want to see these results but God did. Unless we learn the principle that God has not called us to be a success, but to be faithful to his message we will never learn the real meaning of our being God’s servants.

That can’t be right. What the people need is theater-style seating, entertainment and to be told how swell they are.

It is sad that people just think of the great fish when they think of Jonah, but there is so much more to that book. A reluctant preacher saying the real words of God means infinitely more than man’s “wisdom” in how to reach people. No props, no gimmicks, no pandering, no appealing to people’s “felt needs” (unless that it is the felt need to be forgiven of one’s sins against a perfect and holy God).

Don’t distort the Gospel in an attempt to gain the whole world yet forfeit your soul.

Contemplative prayer is a mystical practice that is making inroads in all sorts of churches. Don’t be taken in by it. If you really contemplate on scripture and then pray to God, that’s great. But that isn’t what is meant by contemplative prayer. It involves repetition of phrases, in opposition to what Jesus taught (Matthew 6:7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.”). It implies that there is formula you can use to “experience” God.

Prayer is the primary way you talk to God, not the primary way He talks to you. If you want to hear from God, read the Bible. If you want to audibly hear from God, then read the Bible out loud. If God communicates to you other ways then that is his prerogative, not his obligation.

Twice in recent months people looking for Driscoll’s Portland church have attended Sunnyside Church by mistake. One woman demanded a rebuttal to the sermon. Another man walked out yelling obscenities.

So I’m not in favor of the obscenities, though I can see how a true believer would be aghast at hearing a phony like Chuck “preach.” And a rebuttal is exactly what is needed when Chuck preaches about Darwin, MLK, or who knows what else instead of Jesus (though maybe that is a good thing!). He likes to remind people that we have as much to learn from other religions as they do from us — as if they have things to teach us about Jesus that aren’t in the Bible.

Now I’m not a big fan of Driscoll, but for reasons completely different from Chuck’s. The things Chuck doesn’t like are Driscoll’s good points, such as saying:

Praying for our president, who today will place his hand on a Bible he does not believe to take an oath to a God he likely does not know.

Driscoll was dead on. Remember, even Jeremiah Wright noted how church wasn’t the Obama’s “thing.” I have yet to hear Obama say one accurate thing about the Bible. He mocks God on a regular basis with his pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage views.

Chuck boo-hoo’d:

It is hard to imagine a minister being so hateful. Driscoll doesn’t even represent most conservative evangelical Christian thinkers. Back in 2010, I joined Christian leaders in releasing a letter . . .

Yeah, Chuck signs onto a lot of letters. The one he referenced was a who’s who of false teachers — Jim Wallis, T.D. Jakes, himself, etc.

Driscoll’s church, with his failings and all, preaches verse by verse through the Bible and treats it as what it is: The word of God. And his churches grow in wildly liberal areas like Chuck’s. Oddly, Chuck’s world-mirroring churches shrink even though he’s a liberal pastor in a liberal city in a liberal denomination. Must be the ejector seats.

Are you a Christian woman who has had an abortion? – a very important message for anyone involved in the abortion process (or any other sin, for that matter). One of the most important things that Pregnancy Resource Centers do is to offer post-abortion counseling. Contrary to the myths of the world, they are full of grace and good news.

I used to say “pro-choice” to be charitable to them, even though they would call me “anti-abortion” instead of “pro-life.” (Why yes, I am anti-abortion! Thanks for noticing. I think everyone should oppose killing innocent but unwanted human beings).

But now I just call them pro-abortion. Why? Because the Democrats’ platform is specifically pro-taxpayer-funded abortions. If you force pro-lifers to pay for abortions then you aren’t pro-choice, you are pro-abortion. If you think one of the problems in society is that there aren’t enough abortions and we must pay for more with taxes, then you are pro-abortion.

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.

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Shameful United Methodism — The UMC Board of Church and Society and the United Methodist Women’s Division issued a rah-rah celebration memo about Roe v Wade. If John Wesley were here he would never stop throwing up. If I had known their history ahead of time I would never have joined the UMC, and I am so glad I finally left after 16 yrs. I applaud those who stay and fight for the truth. But if you are there and not fighting, you are part of the problem.

One positive bit of news: they got hammered on their own blog with 9 out of 10 comments strongly criticizing the post. They had to shut down the comments! If you are so inclined, go there and “vote up” the 9 pro-life comments to help send a message.

They bizarrely referred to “reproductive justice” when rationalizing the crushing and dismembering of innocent human beings. If abortion isn’t unjust then nothing is. Reproductive justice is when you don’t kill the unwanted unborn child who has already been reproduced.

They hypocritically pretended to care for the health issues of blacks when they are aborted at a rate 3x that of whites.

They have the nerve to say, “Conduct careful analysis of the church’s support for crisis pregnancy centers that may not offer all options of counseling,” which is code for “don’t support pregnancy centers because they won’t recommend abortions.” But CPCs share the Gospel and help women in need – for free! Only those on the side of Satan could oppose those. And there was no mention of the horrors found at countless abortion clinics – and I’m not even talking about the dead babies. If they are really about helping women and not just pro-abortion shills, why not demand “safer” abortions?

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They aren’t even trying to hide their bias any longer. If you only consume the mainstream media then you are part of the problem and almost surely misinformed.

The president who came into office speaking in lofty terms about bipartisanship and cooperation can only cement his legacy if he destroys the GOP. If he wants to transform American politics, he must go for the throat. …

Obama’s only remaining option is to pulverize. Whether he succeeds in passing legislation or not, given his ambitions, his goal should be to delegitimize his opponents. Through a series of clarifying fights over controversial issues, he can force Republicans to either side with their coalition’s most extreme elements or cause a rift in the party that will leave it, at least temporarily, in disarray.

The Beautiful and Efficient Anatomy of Pregnancy – OK, I admit it, I didn’t expect to see this on the Huffington Post. I noted some interesting things when examining the comments. A few committed Democrats (the party of unrestricted, taxpayer-funded abortions) freely admitted that abortion is murder. They simply couldn’t ignore the humanity of the unborn, and that’s progress.

We should keep emphasizing our simple and clear reasoning: It is a scientific fact (and basic common sense) that a new human being is created at fertilization. It is simple moral reasoning that it is wrong to take the life of an innocent human being without proper justification, and that is what happens during 99% of abortions. The situations surrounding abortions are psychologically complex (pressures on the mother to abort, economic concerns, etc.) but morally simple (you don’t kill unwanted humans outside the womb for those reasons, so you shouldn’t kill them inside the womb for those reasons). Their size, level of development, location and degree of dependency are not reasons to ignore their right to life.

Oh, and the one true God says, “Don’t murder.”

Unfortunately, too many of the commenters were spouting pro-abort sound bites and couldn’t acknowledge indisputable facts. Here’s an example from one of their super user / moderators:

Me: “Every embryology textbook will tell you that a new human being is created at fertilization. The science is clear.”

Me: This is classic. I am making references to mainstream science textbooks and you say I’m the one being anti-science? No, it isn’t fundy land we’re talking about, it is you visiting from stereotype land.

Here’s a sample of what I have to offer. Please provide your own scientific references that prove that the unborn are not human beings.
And even without the science texts, just what do you think the unborn are? What would two human beings combine to create?

“Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoo developmentn) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. . . . A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo).”
Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003. pp. 16, 2.

“[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.”
Keith L. Moore, Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2008. p. 2.

Her comments got less cerebral from there.

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The rate of abortions in the black community is three times that of whites and Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provide, was founded by racist eugenicist Margaret Sanger. And the Democrat’s platform of taxpayer-funded abortions will increase that rate.

But you are a racist if you point those out!

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I just finished the Great Gatsby (seems like everyone read it in high school except me) and chuckled at this line from this nearly 90 year old book:

“I read somewhere that the sun’s getting hotter every year,” said Tom genially. “It seems that pretty soon the earth’s going to fall into the sun— or wait a minute— it’s just the opposite— the sun’s getting colder every year.

Ah, so the “sciencey” hotcoldwetdry climate change sound bites have been around for a long time! There really is nothing new under the sun (heh).

P.S. One word book review: Meh. Slightly longer review: If Fitzgerald set out to let us know that high society in the 20’s was full of dislikable, self-indulgent, drunken, self-destructive people then he did a good job.

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Rape Exception: Why Do We Kill Babies Instead of Rapists? – I like to pose a variant of that question when people act surprised that I oppose a rape exception. “So you are favoring capital punishment in this awful situation? Well, I guess I could entertain that. Rape is a spectacularly awful and cruel crime. Oh, wait, you meant capital punishment for the baby? How does that fix anything?”

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A good quote about attacks on Christianity by people like Richard Dawkins.

Don’t just take it from me. The atheist philosopher of science Michael Ruse says that Dawkins’s arguments are so bad that he’s embarrassed to call himself an atheist. Terry Eagleton, an English literature and cultural theory professor, severely criticizes “Ditchkins”—his composite name for Dawkins and Hitchens. He considers them to be both out of their depth and misrepresenters of the Christian faith: “they invariably come up with vulgar caricatures of religious faith that would make a first-year theology student wince. The more they detest religion, the more ill-informed their criticisms of it tend to be.”

Copan, Paul (2011-01-01). Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God (pp. 17-18). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Point two: The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has affirmed in two separate decisions (Heller vs DC 2008 and McDonald vs Chicago 2010) that the Second Amendment is “incorporated” via the Fourteenth Amendment. In layman’s terms, this means that our right to Keep and Bear Arms shall be construed as an “individual right,” not a “collective right” as in the sense of a militia called up for a time of war. . . .

Point three: I’ll limit myself to a musket when you limit yourself to a printing press and a town crier.

Given that today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, here are 15 things to consider about abortion:

1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother’s womb (except in the case of abortion).

2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being legally destroyed.

3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion is still legal beyond this limit.

4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and dialysis.

5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a six-year-old.

6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of three-month-old babies.

7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic make up.

8. Ultrasounds have given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb, recoiling from pricking, and responding to sound. All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.

9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing him.

10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.

11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.

12. The outcast, the disadvantaged, and the exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no voice of their own.

13. What is happening in the womb is the unique person-nurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take life.

14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with care of every kind lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they can.

15. Jesus Christ can forgive all sins and will give all who trust in him the help they need to do everything that life requires.